UAE | General
Child to receive treatment for emotional problems
Harrowing images of a young girl crying by the body of her dead father on a Gaza beach turned Huda Ghalia into the latest symbol of Palestinian suffering.
- By Zoi Constantine, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 12, 2006
Dubai: Harrowing images of a young girl crying by the body of her dead father on a Gaza beach turned Huda Ghalia into the latest symbol of Palestinian suffering.
It has been more than a month since eight members of her family, including her father and one-year-old brother, were killed by what was reported as artillery shells fired from Israeli gunboats stationed off the Mediterranean coast.
Days after the attack, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister expressed his desire to adopt the 12-year-old.
Now, Huda and four members of her family have arrived in the UAE, at the behest of Shaikh Hamdan, in the first trip she has ever taken outside Gaza.
Coordinated by the UAE Red Crescent Authority, Huda is due to receive treatment for a range of behavioural, emotional and cognitive problems.
Speaking last night from Ramallah, Palestinian Ambassador to the UAE Khairi Al Oraidi said that this was yet another example of the strong relations between the UAE and the Palestinian people.
"All Palestinians thank Shaikh Hamdan and President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for their ongoing support. This is another instance of our very strong relations, and I know that the UAE will not just stop with this case; they will continue to support the Palestinian people in these hard times."
"This family, and Huda in particular, is a real symbol for what is going on in Palestine. Only a matter of hours ago, a similar attack took place again in Gaza. Huda's case is important because people all over the world heard her cries."
Speaking from their home in Gaza, members of the Ghalia family said that they were very happy that Huda, her sisters, mother and aunt had safely made the trip to the UAE, saying that the fraught trip from the northern part of the Strip, through Rafah and into Egypt had been specially coordinated by the Palestinian President's Office.
"We are all very happy because Huda has been given this opportunity, but at the same time we are sad because she has gone," said her uncle Hassan Ghalia, 32.
"She will be receiving much needed psychological and other support and for that we are very thankful to our brothers in the UAE, as we want her to be able to forget about the terrible thing that happened."
He added that the family were confident that Huda and her sisters would finally be safe in the UAE; something that they were not able to ensure with further escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
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